Queen Victoria eBook

The great Lord Shaftesbury was her chief supporter,
but it was not until the year 1854 that Mary Carpenter
succeeded in her desire, when a Bill was passed establishing
reformatory schools. From this time her influence
rapidly increased, and it is mainly owing to her efforts
that at the present day such precautions are taken
to reform young criminals on the sound principle of
“prevention is better than cure.”

Mary Carpenter also visited India no fewer than four
times in order to arouse public opinion there to the
need for the better education of women, and at a later
date she went to America, where she had many warm
friends and admirers. She had, as was only natural,
been keenly interested in the abolition of negro slavery.

One of the most distinguished women in literature
during the Victorian Age was Harriet Martineau.
At an early age it was evident that she was gifted
beyond the ordinary, and at seven years old she had
read Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and
learnt long portions of it by heart.

Her health was extremely poor; she suffered as a child
from imaginary terrors which she describes in her
Autobiography, and she gradually became deaf.
She bore this affliction with the greatest courage
and cheerfulness, but misfortunes followed one another
in rapid succession. Her elder brother died of
consumption, her father lost large sums of money in
business, and the grief and anxiety so preyed upon
his mind that he died, leaving his family very badly
off.

This, and the loss later on of the little money they
had left, only served to strengthen Miss Martineau’s
purpose. She studied and wrote until late in
the night, and after her first success in literature,
when she won all three prizes offered by the Unitarian
body for an essay, she set to work on a series of
stories which were to illustrate such subjects as
the effect of machinery upon wages, free trade, etc.

After the manuscript had been refused by numerous
publishers, she succeeded in getting it accepted,
and the book proved an extraordinary success.

She moved to London, and her house soon became the
centre where the best of literature and politics could
always be discussed. She was consulted even by
Cabinet Ministers, but in spite of all the praise
and adulation she remained quite unspoiled.

The idea of women taking part in public movements
was still not altogether pleasing to the majority
of people, who were apt to look upon ‘learned’
women as ‘Blue-stockings,’ a name first
used in England in the previous century in rather
a contemptuous way.

Come, let us touch the string,
And try a song to sing,
Though this is
somewhat difficult at starting, O!
And in our case more than
ever,
When a desperate endeavour,
Is made to sing
the praise of Harry Martineau!

Of bacon, eggs, and butter,
Rare philosophy she’ll
utter;
Not a thing about
your house but she’ll take part in, O!
As to mine, with all my soul,
She might take (and pay) the
whole—­
But that is all
my eye and Harry Martineau!